Distribution of carbon contamination in MgAl2O4 spinel occurring during spark-plasma-sintering (SPS) processing: I – Effect of heating rate and post-annealing

Carbon contamination from the carbon paper/dies during spark-plasma-sintering (SPS) processing was examined in the MgAl₂O₄ spinel. The carbon contamination sensitively changes with the heating rate during the SPS processing. At the high heating rate of 100 °C/min, the carbon contamination having organized structures occurred over almost the entire area from the surface to deep inside the SPSed spinel disk. In contrast, at the slow heating rate of 10 °C/min, the carbon contamination having disordered structures occurred only around the surface area. The carbon phases transform into high pressure CO/CO₂ gases by post-annealing in air and lead to pore formation along the grain junctions. The pore formation significantly occurs at the high heating rate due to the large amount of the contaminant carbon phases. This suggests that if once the carbon contamination was formed in the materials, it is very difficult to remove the carbon phases from the materials.     

10 Gbit/s optical soliton transmission over 7200 km by using amonolithically integrated MQW-DFB-LD/MQW-EA modulator light source

The authors demonstrate 10 Gbit/s optical soliton transmission in a recirculating loop through the use of a monolithically integrated MQW-DFB-LD/MQW-EA modulator light source. The timing jitter due to the Gordon-Haus effect is successfully reduced by the optical bandpass filters conventionally used in the cascaded EDFAs to avoid the accumulation of amplified spontaneous emission. The transmission distance of 7200 km is achieved at a bit error rate of 10^-9     

High performance liquid chromatographic separation of diacylglycerol acetates to quantitate disaturated species of lung phosphatidylcholine

A high-performance liquid chromatographic (HPLC) separation of diacylglycerol acetates to quantitatite disaturated species of lung phosphatidylcholine (PC) was studied. The diacylglycerol acetates were applied on a reversed phase column, eluted by an isocratic solvent, acetonitrile/isopropanol/water (35:15:1, v/v/v) at a flow rate of 1 ml/min, and detected by differential refractometry (RI). This isocratic HPLC method was useful to separate disaturated species from the others of lung PC. The quantitative analysis of the molecular species separated by HPLC was studied by RI detection. Chroamtograms obtained by RI detection and radioactivity determination of diacylglycerol [³H]acetates prepared by [³H]acetic anhydride were almost identical. The RI detector responsed in the same degree for different, authentic standards of diacylglycerol acetates. The detection limit with RI detection was about 30 nmoles. Molecular species of PCs from human lung and carcinoma tissues were analyzed by this HPLC method. The contents of disaturated species were very similar to those reported previously. These results indicate that RI detection is very useful in the nmole range for the quantitative analysis among the molecular species containing disaturated species.     

Study on the "signal" constituents for the evaluation of animal crude drugs. V. The "signal" constituents for the identification of Lumbricus in cold medicines

Cell death was analyzed in neurulating mouse embryos after in vivo doses of 2-methoxyethanol (2-ME) that produce anterior neural tube defects. Characterization of 2-ME-induced cell death was performed by evaluating: (1) vital fluorochrome staining in whole embryos applying confocal laser scanning microscopy; (2) characteristics of cell debris in conventional histological sections revealed by light microscopy; and (3) Apoptag in situ immunohistochemical staining for apoptosis using light microscopy. Methods for quantification of cell death identified by these three techniques were explored using computerized image analysis. Physiological cell death in control embryos primarily occurred in the neural crest region during neural fold elevation. Embryos exposed to 2-ME had expanded areas of cell death in the neural crest and also new areas of cell death in medial regions of the anterior neural tube. Both physiological and 2-ME-induced embryonic cell death had morphological, immunohistochemical, and fluorochrome staining characteristics of apoptosis. When fluorescence data from confocal microscopic analysis of vital fluorochrome-stained embryos were analyzed, a dose-dependent increase was found in embryos exposed to 2-ME. Similar results were obtained when cell death was analyzed in either conventional histological sections or sections prepared for immunohistochemical detection of apoptosis. The cell death data obtained in this study correlate with previously observed near-term malformation rates, suggesting that a quantitative relationship exists between 2-ME-induced embryonic cell death and neural tube defects.     

Preparation of polyimide-epoxy composites

The formation of a three dimensional network of crosslinked epoxy leads all unmodified epoxies to have inherent brittleness and relatively low degradation temperatures. Polyimides, on the other hand, are widely used for applications that require high degrees of flexibility and thermal resistance. Here, we have focused on the preparation of epoxy systems cured with polyamic acids instead of traditional amino-group-containing hardening agents. The cure behavior and potential reaction mechanisms of EPON 828 resin and polyamic acid mixtures were evaluated by DSC and TGA. Thermal analysis showed a complex reaction sequence taking place in the mixture and also determined the extent of reaction of the polyamic acid with itself and the competitive reaction of the polyamic acid with the epoxy. The compositions of the mixtures were varied to see the dependence of the cure behavior on component concentrations. Solutions of the two components did not phase separate and also phase separation was not apparent either optically or microscopically in the cured samples. This phase behavior was attributed to a unique in situ reaction. A novel solvent system for the polyamic acid precursor was also used.     

Heparin affinity high-performance liquid chromatography as an alternative to bioassay of CS23 mutein of recombinant human basic fibroblast growth factor

We investigated whether a chemical assay by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) as an alternative to the complicated and time-consuming bioassay for CS23 mutein of recombinant human basic fibroblast growth factor (rhbFGF-CS23) using the fetal bovine heart endothelial cell line ATCC CRL 1395. Physically, chemically or enzymatically denatured rhbFGF-CS23 was subjected to heparin affinity (HA)-HPLC and the bioassay. Good agreement was observed between the results obtained by these two methods. Moreover, HA-HPLC gave much more reproducible results (RSD = 1.9%, n = 6) than the bioassay (RSD = 7.4%, n = 18). HA-HPLC is therefore a simple, accurate and reproducible alternative to the bioassay for quality control and stability studies for rhbFGF-CS23 preparations. HA-HPLC is also considered to be applicable to assays for FGFs which have heparin affinity and biological activity similar to those of the CS23 mutein.     

Question hard, answer simply: A comment on Storms et al. (2003).

It seems clear that, for whatever reasons, the dementia of the Alzheimer type patient group (as well as other patient groups) exhibits behavior that is different from the normal control group. G. Storms, T. Dirikx, J. Saerens, S. Verstraeten, and P. P. De Deyn (2003) rightfully argue that the observed behavior (similarity judgments) does not tell us the source (cause) of the differences between the 2 groups. Rather, the focus of the study should be placed more on finding the ways the 2 groups are different. They also point out various methodological problems in some of the previous attempts to characterize the nature of the differences. Further methodological issues in G. Storms et al.'s study are examined. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Intramolecular triplet energy migration in poly(2-vinylnaphthalene) and poly(naphthylalkyl methacrylate)s in solid solution: Effects of side chain length

Summary The effect of side chain length on intramolecular triplet energy migration of naphthalene containing polymers was investigated by a delayed fluorescence (DF) spectroscopy for the solid solution of the polymers. The degree of triplet energy migration depends strongly on whether the chromophores are directly attached to the main chain or not.